Regression
by Mona.E.Lisa
Summary: Michelangelo was not a vengeful person. He didn't care who had killed his father, it didn't matter. What did matter was there was three baby boys, a lost girl and a son left behind in the wake of someone's own vengeful frenzy and this boy, this orphan, had nothing left of what he knew.
1. 生死

They were so tiny. Mikey had rolled them out on their stomachs, worried that them lying on their backs wasn't good for their shells. He should have been relaxed at how peaceful they were, but the only thing soothing him was the roaring from outside their little cell.

Rather than kill them, they had turned his brothers into babies. It was sick, a cruel twisted joke. When he thought about it, it was likely that Shredder had plotted it to use them against Splinter. To raise them and have them fight him, like he did Karai.

But Splinter was gone too.

"Michelangelo! Move away from the door!"

He picked the boys up and pressed himself to the side of the cell, "We're clear! Go for it, Leatherhead!"

The door dented and went flying into the opposite wall. It was true, Leatherhead was back! So many things welled in Mikey's chest; relief that his friend was alive; hope that they might escape; concern as Donnie opened his eyes and started wailing. Leatherhead recoiled at the sound, which was fair Mikey thought. He had probably never seen a baby before.

"Your friends are coming," he said quietly.

Mikey knew April would already have a sense of the situation; she was getting better with her powers. But it was Casey to take control.

"I'll take Raph, April can take Don, and Mike you take Leo. Leatherhead will lead. We know where Splinter's body is. LH will grab it and then we go."

The plan was simple and not well thought out. But it went without a hitch, save for a bit of baby puke.

-:-

"We'll need formula, diapers, oh! And we should pick up some binkies too."

Donnie had rebuilt Metalhead, thank God. Mikey had renamed him Rivet though, telling Donnie, "He's a different robot. Don't let Metalhead's shadow hang over him. That'd be like if I got another cat and named it Klunk 2."

Rivet had already established his place as a baby sitter. Mikey had no trust in him initially, not after the Metalhead 'flying face' fiasco. Not to cradle the babies at least. But he was quick to scan the internet and find DIY instructions on cots and printing off '101 Nutrition for Your Baby'.

April had also learnt he was very good at printing off lists so she didn't have to write it herself.

"And blankets and rags," Casey chimed. "Babies puke."

"Oh! And baby wipes!"

April had immersed herself in providing things for the babies to avoid the elephant in the dojo. Leatherhead had placed Splinter in there for the time being and Casey had laid the cleanest sheet he could find over the body. Mikey himself was too busy trying to lull Leo to sleep. Of course Leo, the world's easiest teenager was the world's most difficult baby.

"And mattresses for their beds!"

"Bed, April. For now they can share a bed." Mikey was tired and April understood. She dragged Leatherhead, a notoriously unpredictable mutant she just met, by the finger to the dump with her freshly printed list in hand.

"Mikey," Casey sighed as the pair left. "I know you don't want to talk about this, but Splinter-"

"There's a place in the sewers, it's big like this. We decided we can burn bodies…" He choked.

"Actually, I was thinking… We have this farmhouse in Northampton. It's big, and has lots of trees and plenty of fresh air. I can take my dad's van and we can go for the week."

There were only a few things murky about the plan. Leatherhead couldn't come due to the lack of room. But he maintained Mikey didn't need to worry about him. Also, for his father to ok him going away for a week with 'just April' to the middle of nowhere, Casey had to bring his little sister, Shadow.

"That's alright," Mikey mumbled. "She should get to say goodbye as well. Rivet can build a box for Splinter's body. Rivet?"

The robot clambered up to his side, printing a diagram of a long box out of his chest. It had lots of numbers and lines and blah, blah, blah.

"That's fine," Mikey said.

"I'll handle it," Casey says abruptly. "I'll plan Splinter's funeral. You look after your bros."

They both looked down at Raph and Don, curled up together on a bed of cushions and blankets. Casey was surprised of how accepting Mikey was. He hadn't freaked out, though he knew it was well over due.

"Why don't you go see Splinter?" Casey held out his hands for Leo and Mikey handed him over. Casey could remember how protective Raph was of Mikey, that Mikey was arguably the most important person in Raph's world.

But that Raph was gone. The Raph that used to stand over Mikey and pet his head with affection, sit for hours on end listening to Mikey's wild ideas and stories was gone and would take sixteen years to come back.

But by then the Mikey he had cherished would be gone.

-:-

Mikey could only stare at Splinter's cloth covered body before Leatherhead and April returned. Leatherhead had suggested, with a gentle hand against Mikey's back, that they wrap the open wounds of the body. Maybe even clean him up.

"For what little I knew of the man, he deserved at least that little bit of dignity."

Mikey agreed, glad he could face this with Leatherhead. They had pulled bandages from the stash kept in the dojo. The wound in Splinter's gut had long since stopped bleeding and they decided just to cover it completely with bandages rather than clean it.

"I'll put him in his robe anyway, it won't be seen" Mikey mumbled, reaching under Splinter to grab the bandage as Leatherhead held his body up. "But I want to brush his fur around his hands and face."

Splinter looked so peaceful, even with his head lolling around because Leatherhead wasn't supporting his neck properly. And by stark contrast, Leatherhead thought, Michelangelo looked so ragged, faded but dry eyed.

"How do you think they turned my brothers into babies?" Mikey whispered. And it shocked Leatherhead to realise that Donatello's intelligence was gone and the only one he could turn to for such answers was Leatherhead. He became acutely aware of how small Michelangelo was making himself, of just how much his voice lacked its usual lustre. He became aware of how crumbled Michelangelo's pillars were and how he didn't know how to process what he was feeling without the people he usually turned to.

"It is a procedure used commonly by the Kr- … them", Leatherhead drawled. "It explains their longevity. They use it so they don't have to waste so many years breeding and training, when they can just store their information and age back to the point of useable youth but still be properly trained."

"So, my brother's memories are gone?"

"An infant's mind could not hold so much information."

Michelangelo tied off the bandage and Leatherhead lowered the body. He stood up and moved to kneel next to Michelangelo. He laid his hand against the boy's back again and let it sink in.

"I'm here for you. We _all_ are." Slowly, Michelangelo leaned forward and rested his hands against his father's wrapped stomach. He wailed into the back of his hands, his body jolted with hiccups and gasps for breath. Leatherhead just made the effort to keep his own breathing even, and to keep his hand resting on Michelangelo's back to ground him.

He'd stop wailing every now and then, but Leatherhead could only guess that maybe a memory would surface and trigger the next bout of tears.

But suddenly Michelangelo stilled. Leatherhead recalled a moment when Donatello had said him and Michelangelo fit well together because they were equally as unpredictable. Michelangelo had long since lost his mask in their escape and his eyes were puffy and his skin blotchy. He shifted slightly and leaned closer to his father's face. His hand hovered over it, shaking.

"Daddy!" It was a long shriek, unlike anything Leatherhead had heard before. But there was nothing after it. No noise left Michelangelo the rest of the night. And it haunted Leatherhead till the day he himself died.

-:-

Rivet had built the box with no help. Mikey had forgotten all about it and it was Casey again to take the lead and give Rivet his list of things to do.

"Are you sure you don't want to come, Leatherhead?"

"No, Casey. I will be fine here. It is better that this place is not left unmanned. I have said my few goodbyes."

"Ok. Can you help us carry the… coffin topside?"

"Of course."

Casey and Leatherhead had struck an odd friendship. In the midst of April's absolute denial of the situation and Mikey's forced removal from it, the two had found solace in each other. Neither was close enough to Splinter to mourn him deeply and the regression of the boys struck multiple cords for a variety of different reasons. They shared the feeling of being a bystander.

"Has it been nailed shut?"

"No, the robot has not done it yet. Michelangelo wanted to put some things in there."

When they walked into the dojo they were greeted with the sight of Mikey adjusting Splinter's kimono and the little trinkets and pictures Mikey had left him with. He turned around to face the two.

"Is it time to go?"

"Yes, Michelangelo."

He nodded. Before leaning forward to press a kiss to Splinter's head and mumble something in Japanese. He pulled the lid over the box and called Rivet to come and nail it.

"I'll go help April with the boys." His voice shook and he couldn't look them in the eye.

-:-

The van ride was beyond awkward. They brought Rivet with them because he put Leatherhead on edge, and he had powered down for the ride, so he was a good as dead. Splinter's coffin was strapped to the side of the van with Mikey sitting opposite holding the babies in a basket April had picked up. April and Shadow sat in the front with Casey at the wheel.

Yeah, this was the perfect time to explain to Shadow that Splinter was dead.

"What!? How? Why? WHO!?"

Mikey couldn't help but give a little smile. The young girl twisted in her seat to look at him, distress written all over her face. "Shadow, sit down."

"I'm going to find who did this!" she roared. "You watch me!"

"I'm glad you're taking this well, Shadow." Of course her reaction was to be angry; she was a lot like her brother in that sense. Mikey knew she was fiercely protective of him, which he was thankful for in this moment. It was good to smile, not matter how feeble.

-:-

They left the box on the porch. Casey and Rivet went off to dig the hole, while April, Mikey and Shadow stayed in the house with the babies.

"This is really happening, isn't?" Mikey couldn't help the flare of anger in his chest. "Mikey, he's dead!"

Mikey tried to put himself in her place, but he just couldn't. He was too weighed down by the burden of being the new head of his family, the burden of adulthood and feeling of being perpetually on the edge of something.

Shadow nudged his hand, "Who's going to fix the mutants now the Donnie's a baby?"

Oh.

"Oh my god!" April all but shrieked, standing up and backing herself into a wall. "What's going to happen to my dad!? We need a retro mutagen! Leatherhead! Leatherhead knows about Kra-"

"April!" Mikey cut her off. "We can't ask him to do that! You know that. We just have to wait."

"I've done my waiting!" she roared. "I'm done waiting and I'm done losing people!"

"Don't talk about my brothers like they're dead!"

The basket was too heavy for Shadow to carry, so she dragged it into the other room.

"They're babies, Michelangelo! How is that going to help us? We have the Foot and the Kraang to deal with. We can't exactly go to with an application to pause our war with them for sixteen years so we can play house!"

"And what exactly do you want us to do then?" April recoiled at the harshness of his tone but he didn't care. She was going to hear this. "This isn't about you, April. This isn't about the Foot, or the Kraang or Shedder or whoever! This is about my dad and my brothers! This is about me! _Everything_ I have ever known has been pulled out from under me; I am the last person to do this!"

"You still have _us_!" April whispered, her voice getting gradually louder. "You still have Casey, Leatherhead, even Rivet! We're here, and your brothers _will_ be back."

"No they won't! They'll grow up, but there's every chance they'll be completely different people, April!"

"I won't let that happen!" she sputtered.

"You can't do that to them!"

"Stop it!" Shadow stormed into the room. "The babies are trying to sleep. We can yell about this back home, right now we need to focus on what's important! And that's Splinter's funeral and changing turtle diapers!"

She stood there between the two, her hands on her hips, eyes shifting between them. April stormed out, muttering things to herself. Mikey stared after her, grateful she didn't slam the door. He turned to look at Shadow, who was watching him with careful eyes.

"Why did you do that?" he asked. The girl sighed, and took on a look far too old for her.

"I'm sad Splinter's gone, like everyone. But fighting isn't what we should be doing. Everyone's scared," she curled her hands to fists, placed them on her hips and puffed out her chest. "Someone has to be brave and take care of all of you!"

Mikey sighed, a smile playing on his lips. "Shadow, you're six. We're supposed to be taking care of you."

"It's not forever! Just for now. Right now, I'm the least mad and the least sad." He stuck her hand out to Mikey, pointing her pinkie finger at him. "And I promise to do my job right!"

Mikey wasn't sure what her job was, but he reached out and looped fingers with her anyway, "I'll hold you to that."

"You had better, Rooish." She grinned. "I was serious about that diaper, you know?"

-:-

Very little was said at the burial. Shadow had stayed back with the babies. It was just Mikey, April, Casey and Rivet. April said a few things. She had collected some flowers when she left after the argument. She kneelt down and gently dropped them down onto the box. She didn't have any string to tie them with, so when they landed they spread apart, some rolling down the side of the box.

Mikey lead them in prayers, one in English and another in Japanese. April and Casey bowed their heads, holding hands and trying to maintain their composure. Eventually they left, leaving Mikey and Rivet alone.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" he asked, staring at the flowers. "How could you leave me like this?"

Years later he would come to regret those words. Not because he learned why his father died, that always remained a mystery. But he knew, as he matured, that he father would never have left them. He was simply taken in an act of violence which haunted Michelangelo to his grave even without knowing what had happened.

That being said, Michelangelo was not a vengeful person. He didn't care who had killed his father, it didn't matter. What did matter was there was three baby boys, a lost girl and a son left behind in the wake of someone's own vengeful frenzy and this boy, this orphan, had _nothing_ left of what he knew.

"I'm dropping this Miwa thing," he informed the box. "I don't have the energy for it and it doesn't matter anymore. The best I can do for your daughter is let her have the peace of knowing that the man who killed her mother is dead." He didn't mean to sound so callous, so unlike himself. Shedder had gotten back into the girl's head after they had tried to tell her the truth, and twisted it further. And in a way, Shedder had gotten into his head and twisted it too.

"I can't pull everything she's ever known out from under her, Otōsan. That's not fair." He waited for a while, as if for some kind of response. "But I'll bring Shredder down, one day. She'll just have to go with him."

And then the wind blew, and a chill ran down Michelangelo's spine that made him madder than he had ever been.

"But right now, they aren't important to me. What's important this new family I have. My brothers, April, Casey, Leatherhead, everyone that's left."

He'd run out of things to say. He fell to his knees and looked down at his hands. He had nothing to say, but so much was left unsaid. Terror welled up in his throat and tears slipped down his cheeks.

"_Mori mo iyagaru, Bon kara saki-nya__  
__Yuki mo chiratsuku-shi, Ko mo naku-shi__Bon ga kita-tote, Nani ureshi-karo__  
__Katabira wa nashi, Obi wa nashi__Kono ko you naku, Mori wo ba ijiru__  
__Mori mo ichi-nichi, Yaseru-yara__Hayo-mo yuki-taya, Kono zaisho koete__  
__Mukou ni mieru wa, Oya no uchi__  
__Mukou ni mieru wa, Oya no uchi"_

He sung the lullaby, staring down at the flowers waiting again for another response. But all he got was a hand on his back. Rivet had listened and come.

They filled the hole together.

-:-

"Mikey, we need to talk."

"I know."

To her credit, April had waited a day before coming to Mikey. She asked if they could do it on the roof, because she wanted to see the stars.

"That's where I think they go," she said once they were on the roof. Her neck was arched back, staring into the dotted abyss.

"It's a nice thought," Mikey admitted. She knew Mikey wouldn't believe in it with her, because Donnie had told him otherwise. He knew that a star was a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity and not the spirit of someone passed, because Donnie had told him so. Michelangelo didn't believe in a lot of spiritual things like astrology or religion because Donnie would feed him a constant stream of knowledge and tell him how the world worked. And even though Michelangelo was never one to necessarily apply that knowledge, he knew it and he cherished it because his brother taught him it and he believed in it with fibre of his being.

April felt sorry for him. Donatello was gone. Mikey had no one to tell him how the world worked. His world would stop being so amazing, confined to the sewers without Donnie to tell him about space and time.

It all seemed so pointless without him.

"I know what you meant," April breathed. "When you said everything was pulled out from under you. I've been thinking about it and I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"I shouldn't have yelled at you either."

"No! You should have, you have every right!" She grabbed his hand. "I've been thinking about it and… I'm sorry but, I still have my aunt and other family topside. And yeah, Casey, Shadow and I will visit you every day, but we'll go home and we'll leave you there. Alone."

She sounded choked and terrible and she hated herself for what she was saying.

"No, I'll have-"

"You'll have a robot, three babies and a mentally unstable alligator. How is that fair?" Now she was mad, authority dripped from her voice. "I'll miss Splinter, and I know that there's a chance I'll never get my dad back. But that's just a chance. You'll _never_ get your dad back. This is about you, and I'm sorry I thought I could take that away from you."

He had cleaned the body, wrapped it, dressed it, arranged it in the coffin, put the coffin in the ground and buried it, but April could see the dawning realisation on Mikey's face. Splinter was never coming back. _Ever._

"Thank you," he said weakly, leaning into her as she embraced him.

"We're going to be ok," April said after a few moments. "We'll figure this out. You'll be ok."

April repeated this maybe ten times before she convinced herself she was telling the truth. Mikey had fallen asleep about the fifth time, emotionally and physically exhausted.

"It's ok, little brother," April said quietly for the final time, before looking up to the sky. "We'll be ok."

* * *

**I really hope that when they bring Shadow into the show that she'll be a little shit but think rainbows come out of Mikey's arse.**

**Takeda Lullaby is what Mikey sings.**

**This story will have no plot, I promise. I'm working on The Battle Nexus as you read, I'm just typing it up.**

**Review?**


	2. 連銀のボトル

Everything is twenty-twenty in hindsight. And as such, Michelangelo was realising the down side of not mentioning to his highly unstable, panic prone, doesn't do surprises friend that there was a cat in their freezer.

"It's ok, just calm down and leave her in there. Her name is Klunk. She's my pet."

Mikey tried to calm Leatherhead down over the phone as best he could. He could only imagine what the state of the kitchen would be, or the whole lair for that matter. It might just be pizza for a while.

"I'm calm, I'm calm." He could imagine Leatherhead rocking himself back and forth.

"Just leave her in the freezer. There's plenty of food for her to eat in there. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"No, my friend, it is fine. I will just avoid the kitchen until you return."

Mikey considered shortening their stay, maybe heading home early. They had been there three days. Maybe that was enough. Was it?

"Ok, we'll see you in a few days. Remember to call if you need something."

Raph started to grizzle in his arms just as Leatherhead said his goodbyes and hung up. Mikey did his best to shush him before he started wailing, but to no avail.

Oh god. How long do babies cry? How many years? Two? Three?

"Rivet! How longs that formula going to be?"

"Another minute, Mikey!" Shadow called from the kitchen. It was about midnight. Rivet had come up with a routine for feeding the babies and unfortunately everyone within a kilometre radius (April estimated) had to hear about it thanks to Leonardo.

This was great really. He woke the other two up and they demanded to be feed as well. It helped get them all on the same routine. Mikey just wasn't sure how long he could hold up. Casey said he'd get used to it; he and his dad did when Shadow was born.

Rivet clambered out of the kitchen with three bottles, handing one each to April, Casey and Mikey. This bit he was used to, he could do this bit forever. Just watching them drink and slowly become more and more content before the new warmth in their bellies put them to sleep.

"It's too bad you're gonna grow up to be so ugly, Raphie" Mikey mumbled as Raphael finished the last of his bottle.

"Mikey, you can't say that!" April chastised as Casey dissolved in a fit of giggles.

-:-

The kitchen, as it turns out was untouched. Leatherhead had managed to control himself and smash up the lounge room instead.

"It's only a couple of craters," Casey said. "At least the TV is still intact."

"I'm terribly sorry, Michelangelo."

"Nah dude," Mikey waved him off, "its fine I should have told you about Klunk. The floor can be fixed… I think."

"Sure!" Casey scoffed, "Just fill it in with cement until its level with the rest of the floor."

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find cement in the sewers, Casey?" April asked, running her fingers across the edge of one of the craters.

"Just borrow some from a construction site."

It went really quiet after that. They had dropped Shadow off home and the babies were sleeping. The four of them just sat in the lounge area taking everything in. But it wasn't awkward. With all the screaming that had happened in the last week, it was nice to just listen to the trickling waters of the sewers, and the even breathing of each other.

"I'll probably start going through their rooms tonight," Mikey said finally, looking at April and Casey. "I'll start with Leo's first. There's a comic convention this week, and it's not fair that you two keep paying for diapers and formula and whatever. We can sell some of Leo's Space Heroes stuff."

Guilt pooled in his gut. Normally they did alright for money, picking up whatever fell on the ground and in the sewers. But that was always a group effort; there was no way Mikey could do that on his own. And the only way Mikey could support his family now was to sell what was once precious to them – things Mikey wasn't even allowed to touch.

"I know where Raph stashes his really good comics," Casey said, sticking his hands in his pockets and looking up at the ceiling, "We can get more than a few bucks for them too."

"And Irma said she has a spare ticket for the convention. I can go and sell it," April smiled, tears lining her eyes. It was too soon for all of this, to be letting go of the closest things they had of their friends, their brothers.

"You should go now," Casey suggested. "Go find Irma and tell her what's happened. We'll get Rivet to start working on the crib. And I'll hang back and help with Raph's room."

"What about Leatherhead?" April asked.

"Have you left the lair at all this week?" Mikey asked.

"No."

"Then you can go for a walk, stretch your legs, and get some fresh air." Mikey smiled up at his friend. "In fact, how about you go back to your old place and get your things and live here?"

Silence followed, before Leatherhead tentatively asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah!" Mikey exclaimed, a little bit of colour coming back to his face. "You'll have to hang in the lounge room for a little bit until we get a room clear, but there's nothing stopping us!"

On some level Michelangelo probably knew his friend couldn't say no, anything to keep that smile on his face.

"Okay."

April left, albeit begrudgingly, with Leatherhead escorting her out. Casey's first step was to get an empty tub from Donnie's lab.

"The shit ton of empty bug spray cans this dude has needs to go!" he says, pushing open Raph's door, leaving Mikey to stare down Leo's.

"You can do this," he breathed, wringing his hands together. He'd been in Leo's room plenty of times and he never knocked, why did he feel like he had to now? "I'm being stupid."

He forced the door open and was hit. Hit by smells, hit by memories, hit in the shin by step up he was taking in his family hierarchy.

Maybe he should wait for next year's comic convention.

No.

Yes.

No.

_Yes._

_No!_

"Grow up, Michelangelo!" he scolded himself in his best Leo voice. He took a tentative step, like he's stepping in a mine field, even though Leo's room is clean and free of stuff on the floor. He gets over to Leo's 'prized' shelf before he realises he doesn't have anything to put the stuff in. He rushed out to Donnie's lab, grabbed a tub and starts again. Slow, small steps and some internal scolding.

Mikey tried to put the things on the shelf in the tub in the same order they were on the shelf. He assumed it was important because Leo never did anything just because. There was always something refined about how he did things, something Splinter once told Mikey scared him to see in a teenager.

"Nah," Mikey said at the time, "I caught him crying over some Space Heroes fanfiction last night. I wouldn't stress about it too much."

The tub was full but the shelf only half empty. "Stupid action figures," Mikey muttered to himself, taking the tub to the living space and getting a bigger tub.

"Dude," Casey popped his head out of Raph's room waving an empty can of spray, "the first thing you're going to do is desensitise Raph to bugs. This shit ain't healthy."

"It's not that bad, is it?"

Casey dragged a tub twice the size of what Mikey had and says, "I haven't even made a fucking dent. He's used like a can per bug."

"Aww geez."

-:-

April come back a few hours later, laptop in hand. Mikey had cleared all the Space Heroes stuff from his brother's room, and Casey had finally cleared all the cans from Raph's and dug up his comics.

"We need to figure out how we're gonna price this stuff," April says, booting up her laptop. "I'm not gonna let some greasy nerd rip you off."

They do it by bit, each individual action figure (which are, by the grace of God, all in their original packets), each comic, each poster or whatever.

"Maybe we should just start an ebay account," Casey mumbles, holding a packet up to the light. "This is too much for one person to take."

"Then what do you suggest, Casey?" April asks.

"Maybe just take the _really_ good stuff with you. Find a couple of people to fight it out for it."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea!"

The next twenty minutes revolved around setting up a make shift studio in the kitchen. Casey worked on taping a white sheet to the ceiling to hide the fact the photos are being taken in a sewer kitchen, while April got the camera ready.

"I'm gonna go see where Leatherhead is," Mikey called, patting Rivet's head on the way out as he worked on the crib.

Leatherhead hadn't come back, and he admitted having a t-phone would be too much for his nerves and too little for his fingers so Mikey couldn't call him. Mikey knew he would crush it at some point, and Mikey couldn't afford to lose too many spares.

Leatherhead was probably just trying to pull himself together. Him moving in with Mikey was a big thing. Leatherhead had never lived with anyone before, so Mikey knew it would take a while for him to make the transition. He'd probably take over a few things at a time, and spend his days in the lair to accustom himself to the constant noises the lair had. And also to the wailing of the babies.

Mikey just wanted to make sure he was ok.

Leatherhead's lair wasn't that far from Mikey's, so checking on him wasn't a problem. He rapped his knuckles against the door a few times calling Leatherhead's name.

"Come in." The voice was quiet and Mikey could tell his friend was probably rocking himself back and forth. He pushed the door open gently, trying to avoid making too sudden a noise.

"Dude, you ok?"

Leatherhead was huddled in the corner, not rocking as Mikey had suspected, but rather staring at what little he owned like it had burnt him.

"I don't want to be an imposition," he muttered quietly.

"I asked you to move in," Mikey said, smiling. "If you're not ready don't worry."

_Because I don't want to push you away._

_I don't want you to push me away._

_I don't want to lose another person._

Those things were left unsaid, but Leatherhead could see them in Mikey's eyes even though he smiled.

"But I want to."

"Ok, but don't feel you need to do it all at once," Mikey said quietly, sliding down the wall next to Leatherhead. "Slow and steady."

"That's never been your style, Michelangelo" Leatherhead says, fiddling with the teddy bear Mikey had gotten for him.

"I guess…" Mikey's brow furrowed, "Some things just have to change, don't they?"

-:-

"Mikey!" Casey yelled, dragging Mikey to the kitchen. "We've sold so much!"

"I've been gone for like half an hour!"

"Well, the auctions aren't technically over" April said, pointing to her laptop, "But there are loads of watchers on everything we've put up so far! It'll go nuts once it's closer to the end."

"Oh." It was a soft noise, close to a breath. Casey barely heard it and he was standing right next to Mikey.

"How did it go with Leatherhead?"

"It's gonna be slow, but he'll get in here eventually."

"I think it's good that you invited him to live here," April said. "But where will he stay?"

"I was thinking Leo's room, because it's going to be the easiest." Mikey rubbed a hand over his face. "Raph's probably needs to be fumigated from all the bug spray and Donnie's is just full of stuff."

"Yeah, Donnie's room is going to be a problem" Casey groaned. "Everything's in bits but we've got no idea what important and what's not."

"We can just leave it for now. What are you going to do about Sensei's room, Mikey?" April asked quietly.

"Not sure. I haven't really thought about it. He's got a lot of photos; I want to keep those, and all his kimonos and things. They all have a family crest on it, we can't go dumping that in some donation bin, the police will go nuts."

"Why?" Casey asked.

"Because he's technically a missing person topside," Mikey explained quietly. "Maybe I'll just box them away until I can wear them or something."

"We can get those vacuum bags so bugs don't get to them!" April said excitedly.

"I think Raph's sorted the bug problem, Red" Casey said dryly with a smirk.

"Ha ha. And we can get some albums for Splinter's photos to keep them safe too."

It was unspoken, but they all knew Mikey would be moving into Splinter's room at some point. When the boys got too old to be sharing a room they'd need their own space and with Leatherhead intending to occupy a room, which left Mikey to shift to the bedroom in the dojo.

It was kind of like a game, to see how many times they could bring it up without actually _saying_ it.

-:-

Mikey had no idea what time April and Casey left. It was late and their timing was great because Rivet alerted him it was time to feed the babies and they were too far gone to call back.

The first time he had to feed them all, alone. Rivet was still on a no touching basis with the babies, so Mikey had to find a way to wrangle three babies and three bottles at once.

Donnie started to grumble from the crib. One week, and Mikey already knew whose noises was whose. Gently, he lifted Donnie out, trying his best not to disturb the sleeping Leo and Raph.

"Hey there," Mikey said as he sat down on the couch. Donnie looked up at him with his big brown eyes, as if waiting for him to say more. But what do you say to a baby? Just as Mikey was about to open his mouth, Donnie started making loud, whiny, 'I'm hungry' noises. Mikey quickly stood up and tried rocking Donnie quiet.

"Please, please stop! Rivet, how much longer!?" Some indiscriminate sounding beeps (to Mikey anyway) came from the kitchen. "Now I gotta learn robot _and_ baby. Awesome."

He could hear Leo and Raph beginning to shift in the crib just as Rivet stepped out of the kitchen, holding a tray with three bottles and a steaming bowl of instant ramen.

"Who's the ramen for?" Mikey asked dumbly, taking a bottle from the tray and offering it to Donatello. Rivet beeped a bit, and Mikey figured it meant 'you'. Rivet set the tray on the couch next to Mikey and took a step away.

Mikey had to think when the last time he ate was. It was probably breakfast. He'd completely forgotten about lunch, what with the weight of letting his material ties to his brothers go. Rivet looked at Mikey, as if waiting for something.

"You aren't gonna let me go unless I eat the ramen, are you?" Rivet turned his head from side to side in a clear 'no', his eyes lighting up red. Mikey smiled down at Donnie, gulping away happily at his bottle. "He's your robot."

When Donnie finished his bottle, Mikey moved on to feeding Leo, who had begun to wail and then Raph. When all three of the boys are in their crib, bundled up in warm blankets, Mikey can't help but watch them. They were so peaceful, completely unaware of the turmoil around them.

Rivet beeped at Mikey, warning beeps almost. He sighed and sat down, taking his bowl of ramen and fork. He slurped at his noodles, self-conscious that he was being stared down by a robot. When he finished he presented his empty bowl to Rivet,

"There, are you happy?" The robot scanned the bowl and his eyes lit up green with approval. He took the bowl and tray of bottles, petting Mikey on the head before heading to the kitchen and then the lab to power down for the night.

Mikey cried himself to sleep that night.

* * *

**When I said there was going to be a plot, I meant that this was more going to be a collection of drabbles than an a to b to c story. Oops.**

**Do you like it?**


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